[Edito] Rwanda: for the French apologies, we will have to go back

"Sincere forgiveness does not wait for an apology," wrote British author Sara Paddison, whom Emmanuel Macron and Paul Kagame have apparently read. In Rwanda, the day before yesterday, there was a request for forgiveness on the part of Emmanuel Macron, in his speech at the Memorial of the genocide against the Tutsi. The Head of State, who came from Paris to meet Kagame, called "those who have crossed the night to give us the gift of forgiving us". Understand France. For the apologies, on the other hand, it will be necessary to come back. For nearly a quarter of an hour, Rwandans waited for certain words from the French president. But these have been weighed by Emmanuel Macron who, therefore, will not have formulated any apologies or admission of guilt.

"His words had more value than an apology"

“When men can't change things, they change words,” Jaurès said. It didn't seem to bother Paul Kagame. The Rwandan president has moreover, by trying to justify this lack of apologies on the part of his French counterpart, assured that "his words had more value than an apology". The families of Tutsi victims of the genocide will appreciate it. If Emmanuel Macron's speech has sometimes been touching, words have been weighed. In addition to the non-formulation of an apology, President Macron recognized the "magnitude" of French "responsibilities" between 1990 and 1994, without releasing any admission of guilt. Words that go in the direction of the historians' report submitted to the French President at the end of March and which clears France as much as possible.

Algeria and Rwanda can wait a long time

This is not the first time that Emmanuel Macron has made amends without excusing the French attitude. Then a simple candidate for the supreme office, Emmanuel Macron went to Algeria at the beginning of 2017. He had certainly declared that colonization "is a crime against humanity. It is a real barbarity, and it is part of this past that we must face in the face by also offering our apologies to those to whom we have committed these acts ”. But four years later, these French apologies are still long overdue and may never happen. An apology that the French president could very well have offered for this other crime against humanity that is the genocide in Rwanda. He preferred to avoid what he certainly considers an admission of weakness. Much to the despair of the victims of a genocide that France continues to downplay, despite the many overwhelming evidence.